Homer, Alaska (Corinne)

We were high above the Ocean as we drove along the coast after leaving Anchorage. It was surprisingly sunny and had a great feel. The small towns were quirky and we didn’t
know what to expect at Homer. Everyone seemed to have a boat and all the letter
boxes had fish motives or in some cases fishing rods hanging over them!

That said it all.

Homer was a small and pleasant town. It was one of those places you always
will wish you could have spent more time.

How many times have we felt like that on the journey – I’ve lost count!

Deciding on Oceanview RV Park we were pointed to the bottom of the hill which was on a slope. “Those are the tent sites at the bottom” we were told. “Choose one you like!” We settled on the narrow one right beside the water. Normally we’d go for the biggest
but nothing could match this view….

This is what we woke up to each day.

The children loved walking right down to the beach when they got up.

The tides here are enormous; thirty feet at least. Rocks were exposed quickly once the tide swung around. This happened to be a great spot for bird viewing – the feathered kind!

We saw bald eagles and sandhill cranes and had noticed ravens on the way into town swooping and diving in pairs at what looked like practising their acrobatic skills!

I woke up with one word as if just spoken out loud “Denali”

I told David. It seemed we were meant to be going there too after just hearing about it from Jen and Dan at Seward! It was already calling!!!

After driving out on the spit, a long 4 to 5 mile piece of land which juts out into the bay, David helped the boys and Lara prepare for a few hours fishing. Kids fish for free here!

We stopped where the seagulls were. The Hotel next door said “Lands End.” It sure felt it! We’d made it to the edge of the Earth!

What a great spot. Lara caught her first two first fish. It was quite an effort for her but she was very proud of herself. We caught two types; pollocks and sole.

It was so well organised here, they have stations where you can wash, gut and fillet your fish for free! We were given a big piece of Halibut to try from a friendly fellow also gutting. It ended up being the tastiest of the three fish. They can be HUGE here and I can see why many just come here to fish.

The black boat which is featured on the TV programme about fishing in the Bering Sea has this as its base. It was docked. It was funny being where they film that show!

We had wondered why there weren’t heaps of people fishing where we were, as the fish were plentiful and jumping on our lines. They would be all out shoulder to shoulder at home in a spot like this.

A local filled us in to the reason why it was so quiet

“Their freezers are already full!”

Gosh, imagine having that much fish on your doorstep year round!

Speaking to the young girl in the camp office it was good to find out what the town is like the rest of the year. Pretty quiet she said.
No-one comes here then.

I overheard a local telling a tourist about the Kodiak bears across the bay.

“You can see fifty of them over there when they wake up after being asleep all winter” he said.

I can’t imagine seeing so many hungry bears that size! I assume he meant from a boat! At least I hope so!

That night we had the best sunset. If our visa waiver wasn’t running out we would have stayed a couple more days, we’d had the best weather…again.

It would have been good to go fishing every day…ah well it’s always good to leave a place after seeing it at its best.